Hesed – Proverbs 19:22

Reports vary, but some estimate that Bernie Madoff pulled off a $64 billion fraud on investors’ money.  Wikipedia says, “Madoff was a “master marketer” who, throughout the 1970s and 1980s, built a reputation as a wealth manager for a highly exclusive clientele. Investors who gained access, typically on word-of-mouth referral, believed that they had entered the inner circle of a money-making genius, and some were wary of removing their money from his fund, in case they could not get back in…People who met him in person were impressed with his apparent humility despite his reported financial success and personal wealth.”  People wanted to believe that he was committed to making them wealthy.

What is desired in a man is steadfast love, and a poor man is better than a liar. (Proverbs 19:22, ESV)

What do we want in every interaction we have?  What enables a society or community to thrive?  What is yearned for between diverse cultures?  Steadfast love.  The Hebrew word is hesed.  It means kindness, lovingkindness, loyal love.  It is the value that rejects living only for one’s self and considers others worth caring for, being truthful with, and treating with respect.  Within an Israelite context it is fueled by God’s lovingkindness toward His people and a command from Him to love one’s neighbor as one’s self.

The liar is the manipulator.  The liar has a selfish agenda that he or she wants accomplished no matter the consequences to others.  The liar may appear to have steadfast love but it is a front for forwarding his agenda.  It would be best to be a rich man full of steadfast love, but even a poor man with steadfast love is better than a rich man who is a liar.  The liar rips at the fabric of all relationships.  You can’t trust him and that takes away any productiveness that could come from relationship with him.  And if this liar is another nation on your borders, you will live in a constant state of tension and worry as to how he might hurt you.

Steadfast love breeds cooperation, its absence breeds fear.  Steadfast love helps a community build itself up, while its absence brings ruin to community.  Steadfast love between nations leads to peace, its absence to war.  There is nothing more foundational to the success of society than steadfast love.